


Journey to the Outside Isles

by Crazy_Pairing_Person



Category: The Lion Guard (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Background Relationships, Drama, Established Cheezi/Chungu/Janja, Established Relationship, Eventual Romance, F/F, Falling In Love, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Running Away
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2020-10-19 11:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20656298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy_Pairing_Person/pseuds/Crazy_Pairing_Person
Summary: Kion wanted to run away from an arranged marriage, and as luck would have it, he found a trio of pirates who happen to be skilled enough to take him to the Outside Isles, the one place he knows his family and bodyguards will never look for him.Though if they could just stop calling him cute and making himfeel things, that would really make the trip a lot more bearable.---This AU was duchess_of_shipping's idea, I just got her permission to write it!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [duchess_of_shipping](https://archiveofourown.org/users/duchess_of_shipping/gifts).

Kion slipped through the crowd, hood of his cloak pulled over his head tightly so as to hide his well-known, bright red hair. His eyes darted around, scanning for his bodyguards. Ordinarily he wouldn't have left without them - none of them had any problem with his excursions into the lower-class area of the town.

But he had to leave without them.

Because this time, he had no intentions of going back to the castle.

However, since he was looking for his bodyguards, he wasn't really paying much attention to the other people in the crowd. He bumped into plenty of them, and the word 'sorry' had passed his lips more times today than he could remember saying in the rest of his life thus far.

Then...

"Oof! Ah, sorry, I didn't-"

"Hey, you little brat! What makes you think you can crash into me like that?!"

Kion's regal blood screamed at him to run.

Standing before him stood one who smelled like seawater, carried a blade at his side, and wore an eyepatch.

A pirate. A thief of the sea. An enemy to royals and nobles everywhere.

"I-I'm sorry," he said again, quickly averting his gaze and pulling his hood further over his head. _'Don't let him realize who you are,'_ he thought. _'Don't let him see anything that points to you being Prince Kion.'_ "I didn't mean to bump into you, s-sir..."

If this pirate figured out who he was, things would be over for him in a heartbeat.

But, hey, at least he wouldn't have to marry Lady Tiifu. That'd be a plus.

"It's 'captain' to you, kid."

Kion's eyes lifted. "I'm nineteen," he muttered defensively. "I'm not a 'kid'."

The pirate snorted. "Whatever, brat. Just get out of my way-"

"Janja! Janja, we got the bread!"

A high-pitched, but still decidedly masculine, voice echoed into the air. The captain - Janja, apparently - turned towards it, giving the two other pirates running towards him an appreciative grin. "Good, good. Let's get back to the ship, then. We have to make it at least halfway to the Outside Isles before next week."

Kion's eyes lit up. "You're going to the Outside Isles?" he asked breathlessly.

Janja, and the two pirates now at his side, turned to look at Kion. "We are," the one who'd been calling for Janja earlier said, beaming with pride. "We're one of the only pirate groups that can make it there, too! We're that good!"

The Outside Isles was, originally, Kion's first choice to run away from his family and forced marriage. But he knew he couldn't make it there on his own, so he'd basically decided to just wander in some aimless direction in hopes of finding some other place to hide.

Maybe he wouldn't have to, though.

"Do you... Maybe need an extra deckhand, or something? I really need to get to the Outside Isles," he said softly.

Janja's eyes narrowed, while the other two pirates looked at him closely. "Why do you need to get there?" Janja asked. "It ain't a place for some scrawny brat like you. It's not exactly a place where someone will care if you get hurt or robbed or anything. It's for pirates, kid. You don't need to be going there for no reason."

"I need to go there," Kion insisted. "Please. If you won't take me all the way, you can drop me off somewhere else that you need to stop at on the way there. But I need to get away from here."

Janja made a soft 'tch' noise under his breath. "I don't know... What do you two think?"

"I think he's cute," the first one said, beaming down at Kion. "I wouldn't mind having him around. How about you, Chungu?"

"Yeah, he's real cute!" the second one - Chungu - agreed.

Kion's cheeks flushed at the words. He averted his gaze, awkwardly shifting his stance. "So I can come...?"

Janja rolled his eyes. "Fine," he mumbled. "Only 'cause these two chuckleheads seem to like you. But remember - we can make it to the Outside Isles. We're that skilled. You find some way to piss us off, and you'll be a shark's dinner."

"Yay!" Chungu and the other pirate cheered. Kion relaxed, giving a soft sigh.

"I'll, uh, do my best not to piss you off... Sir. Captain."

"Mm. C'mon. Ship's this way."

With that, Janja began leading the other two pirates, plus Kion, towards the ship. Chungu smiled down at Kion as they walked. "I'm Chungu," he said. "And this is Cheezi."

"Hi!" Cheezi added, placing a hand on top of Kion's head, nearly knocking his hood off. "What's your name, cutie?"

Kion tensed, and looked down at the ground. "I, um... Well..." He glanced ahead of them, where Janja was just in earshot. Would they still be willing to take him if they knew his royal heritage?

"I'll... Tell you on the boat."

"Ship," Cheezi corrected. "It's a ship, cutie. Not a boat."

"A ship," Chungu added, as if to further emphasize it.

"Right, right. I'll tell you on the ship, then."

At least then they might just kill him instead of leaving him behind.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're WHO?!"

Kion flinched back, inching away from the three shocked pirates before him. Kion had waited until they were at least a few miles away from land before confessing his identity.

"I-I'm Kion. Prince Kion of-"

"Fuck, kid, we heard you the first fucking time!" Janja snapped. He stormed towards the helm, where a female pirate was steering. "Jasiri, take us back. We're dropping this brat back off. No way am I dealin' with this shit."

"Huh? Already?" Jasiri blinked, looking behind her at Kion, who looked back meekly.

"Aww!" Cheezi and Chungu both said. "We wanna keep him, though!"

Kion almost commented that he wasn't a pet, but he figured that would only lower his chances of being able to stay.

"Guys, he ain't a dog," Janja said. "He's a freakin' prince. Imagine what would happen when word gets out he's missing! It wouldn't matter that he came here willingly, you know that, right? Everyone's gonna think we kidnapped him! We'd be lucky to be tossed into dungeons for the rest of our lives! We can't let him stay with us, okay?"

"Janja, I don't see the big deal," Jasiri commented, an easy grin tossed over her shoulder. "Worst comes to worst, I'm sure the little prince over there will make sure to tell everyone that it was voluntary."

"Yeah! Yeah, you'll do that for us, right, prince-y?" Chungu said, giving Kion a hopeful smile. Cheezi gave Kion the same hopeful grin, clasping his hands under his chin like he was begging.

Kion nodded his head rapidly. "Of course I will!" he said quickly, looking over to Janja. "Please, I can't go back, sir!"

"Why?" Janja asked, crossing his arms. "What exactly could be bad enough that you have to run away with pirates?"

At that, Kion's problem seemed almost petty. Why was he running away? His sister hadn't had any problems with her arranged marriage with Lord Kovu. He hesitated, looking at all four of the pirates who stared at him - though Jasiri also tried focusing on steering the ship.

"I... I don't..." Kion swallowed thickly, cheeks burning. "I don't want to get married. They're going to force me to marry this woman that I don't love. I'll never love her in the way they want me to - she's like a sister to me. I can't marry her. S-so I want to run away."

Silence fell. Janja's expression was unreadable. Cheezi and Chungu looked as though they genuinely pitied him for having this problem, but Janja was unreadable.

"Please, sir," Kion whispered. "Please."

After a while of silence, Janja sighed and shook his head. "It's captain to you, kid. Not sir."

Kion's eyes went wide, and Cheezi and Chungu turned towards Janja excitedly. "You mean he can stay?" Cheezi asked.

"Yeah, yeah. God, I can't believe I'm doing this..." Janja groaned, pressing a palm to his forehead. "Kid, I hope you know, though. I ain't plannin' on giving you any special treatment just 'cause you're a prince. You better pull your damn weight 'round this ship or I won't hesitate to make you shark food."

"I-I know, captain! I'll do my best!"

"Well, we can always use extra help," Jasiri said cheerfully. "And Dogo will be happy that he's not the new guy anymore."

"Where is Dogo, anyway?" Janja asked. "...Please tell me you numbskulls didn't put him in charge of makin' our dinner again..."

The words were met with awkward silence. Janja groaned. "I'll be down in the galley, then, makin' sure that dumbass doesn't make something inedible again."

With that, Janja stormed off, muttering a few curse words under his breath. Cheezi and Chungu giggled, and each one of them grabbed on to one of Kion's wrists. "We'll show you around, prince-y!" Chungu said. "C'mon!"

* * *

"Where is Kion?" King Simba asked as he happened upon Kion's bodyguards in the hallway.

"That's what we're-"

Ono slapped a hand over Bunga's mouth. "We're playing hide-and-seek," he said with a completely straight face. "He's an excellent hider."

King Simba blinked. He looked over the nervous expressions of Bunga, Ono, Fuli and Beshte. They clearly weren't playing hide-and-seek, but he was in no mood to try and figure out where his son had run off to this time. "Just make sure you... 'Find' him before dinner, okay?"

"Of course, your majesty," Fuli said. The four bodyguards gave low bows, and waited until the king was gone before standing straight.

"So... What happens if Kion _isn't_ back before dinner?" Beshte asked warily.

"We'll all be out of a job," Ono replied. "So we'd better start looking in town. He's _clearly_ not in the castle."


	3. Chapter 3

"And these are the sleeping quarters for the crew!" Cheezi said, gesturing dramatically down the short hallway. "You're lucky we've got an empty one," he added, playfully ruffling Kion's hair - he'd removed his hood shortly after confessing his identity.

"I'd have been fine on the floor," Kion mumbled.

"Floor, shmoor! You'll have a bed!" Chungu said. "Uhh... Which one of these was the empty one, Cheezi?"

Cheezi hummed, looking at each one of the rooms. He began pointing at the doors, reciting each one's owner as he did, "That one's Jasiri's, that one's Tamaa's, that one's Dogo's, that one's ours... So it must be that one down there!"

Kion almost went to walk towards the one Cheezi indicated, but he paused, glancing up at Cheezi with a confused frown. "'Ours'? You mean, you and Chungu share your quarters? And... Where does the captain sleep?"

"Oh, he sleeps with us," Chungu put in before Cheezi could reply. "He's got his own quarters, technically, on another deck, and they're way nicer, but we always change between sleeping down here and sleeping up in his quarters."

"O-oh..."

Kion bit his lip, glancing down to his new quarters, then back up to the pirates, both smiling obliviously at him.

...He was probably thinking too much into it.

"So, uh, should I be doing anything?" he asked. "I mean, um, the captain said to pull my weight, so..."

Cheezi and Chungu looked at each other, and both tilted their heads in unison, as if it were rehearsed. Then they looked back at him. "He didn't say," they said, also in unison.

Ah... Thinking about it, he had run off pretty quickly after finding out that someone named 'Dogo' was doing the cooking. "Well, uh, maybe we should go ask?" he said delicately.

"Ooh! You're smart, little prince-y! Let's go ask!" Cheezi said. Chungu nodded, smiling brightly.

"The sad thing is, I can tell you're not being sarcastic," Kion mumbled as he followed the two pirates to the galley.


End file.
